everyone has a birthday
by Oparu
Summary: Maleficent has never had a birthday, when Roland, Regina and Robin hear this, they decide to give her one. (Dragon Outlaw Queen, OT3, family fluff, wildly saccharine Roland POV). bottomless sea 'verse 10


"No birthday?"

Mal looks at him, and blinks. Her eyes are slow, not fast like Regina's. Mal has dragon eyes even when she's not a dragon.

She sinks down to his level, touching his nose. It tickles and he giggles. That makes her smile.

"I don't know when I was born, sweet boy, that makes it rather difficult."

He looks up from her to Papa for help. "How can Mal not have a birthday?"

Papa rubs his head. "What if we gave her one?"

Regina glances down, then up, and she blinks fast. Her eyes are wet and fast. "Just give her one?"

"Pick a day," Papa says, reaching down and scooping him up. Then he's high and Mal stands up so she can look at him more.

"Pick a day!" Roland repeats. "A soon day. Not like my birthday, it's far."

"Any day?" Papa teases and he's all smiling. "What about next week?"

Roland still isn't entirely sure what a week is, but it's less long than a month. So that's good.

"Tomorrow!" he shouts, because that's better than next week.

"But we need to plan," Regina says. She's still blinking too fast, and then Mal kisses her cheek.

"You don't need to plan anything."

"No, no," Regina insists. "You'll need a real birthday, if it's your first one. We'll need Lily to have a night off work, Emma and the pirate will want to come, and then the Charmings might as well, Marian, Ursula, Cruella-"

"Might as well have it at the tavern."

"Yeah!" Roland's never been to the tavern. Now he'll get to go. "At the tavern."

"We can't do that," Regina says.

"I don't see why not," Papa says. Roland watches their faces, and something's there but he doesn't know what. Papa half-tosses him to Mal (gently, because there's a baby, everything has to be gentle).

And he's still up, but Mal's holding him instead.

"We need to plan," Papa says. "Shoo."

"What's shoe?" He asks Mal. "Why shoe?" That doesn't make any sense at all.

"Shoo means go play with legos until dinner, I believe." Mal sets him down on the floor near the legos and sits beside him. She's very good at legos. She can always get them unstuck and when he needs things to be in the air she can float them. And find bits with magic under the sofa.

She still makes him clean up without magic, and that's not fair.

Mal crosses her legs and he starts for her lap and stops.

She tilts her head, like she does when she has her other head. It's funny. "What?"

"Can I sit next to my baby?"

Nodding, she pats her thigh. "Might as well while there's still space."

"Will there not be space?"

Mal nods. "Your baby's taking up more space all the time. Soon there won't be space."

He pats her belly, gently, always gently. "But then I'll get to meet my baby. When she's big."

"Yes." And now her eyes are wet. Her eyes are still slow, even wet, and she moves his hand down. "She's here now. I wish you could feel her."

"Soon." He repeats, because he's heard Regina and Papa say soon. "Is soon before your birthday?"

Mal kisses him. "I think it's after my birthday."

"So your birthday is very soon!"

"Yes, dear, it seems it is very soon."

Mal's birthday is in the tavern, which is different than he thought it would be. It's not dangerous, just a little dark and full of wooden tables and stools and games he doesn't know how to play. Henry wants to teach him pool and the pirate-man, Killy-man, says he'll help. So they do that.

Emma is the best at the pool. She wins lots.

There's chicken and burgers and hot dogs and salad and corn and then, finally there's cake.

Cake comes with singing, first Ursula, who sings so pretty that it's magic, but everyone else sings too, and it's not as pretty.

Just loud, but good loud. Cake comes in with Lily and Granny.

Cake with candles. Mal should like them because she likes fire, but she just looks at it all confused.

"You have to blow them out," he says, trying to help. "Like-" he does it, because that should help.

"We didn't know how old you were," Lily says, grinning, "so we just put a lot."

The cake has so many candles that it's all a mass of flame. Regina is concerned.

"I blow them out?" Mal repeats.

"Yeah, Mom, just like Roland showed you," Lily says. "Just not on anyone."

Mal smiles, then blows, but instead of going out, like Roland's candles do, the fire spirals up, up up up like a ribbon, or a firework and bursts just under the ceiling, showering everyone in golden sparks.

They tickle.

Everyone ooooooos (and runs a little).

He giggles.

"Did you make a wish?" he asks, because wishes are serious.

Mal touches her belly, looks at Lily, at Henry, at him, at Regina and Papa, and she cries a little.

Good crying.

"I didn't need too."

That doesn't make any sense, because why wouldn't she wish? Wishes are great. He gets cake now, so it's not worth worrying about. There's lots of cake, and it's good, chocolate and frosting and there's ice cream. He even tries the chili kind that Lily likes so much and it's weird because ice cream isn't hot, and this is hot, like spicy.

It's weird.

It might be good, but not as good as Lily thinks.

He's finished his cake when they do speeches. Papa talks and makes everyone laugh. Regina talks and it's nice, there's more looking and crying (good crying) and Lily talks and Lily must say something really special because Mal has to take Roland's napkin and it has cake on it.

He wants to talk.

Henry gets to talk, and Roland runs up to him and tugs.

"Me next."

"You want to make a speech."

"I wanna speech."

Henry grins. "Okay. Right after me."

Henry also makes everyone laugh. He's funny.

He hands Roland the thing for talking that makes his voice loud, but it's heavy, so Henry helps.

"Ladies and gentleman," Roland says, just like Papa did. "It is Maleficent's first birthday, because she didn't know what birthdays were last week, but now she does, and she has a birthday and that's good, because birthdays are good."

Everyone laughs, especially Papa. Papa has a nice laugh.

"Not just because there's cake, and I like cake. I wanted to say, happy birthday, because I like you and cake, and if you were little like me, I'd be your friend but I'm glad you're not little, because if you were little I wouldn't have a baby and I like my- the- baby very much."

Mama grabs him and hugs him very very tight. "Roland, you are a wonderful boy."

"Yes." Does that mean his speech was good? "Did I speech good?"

Mal stands behind Mama, and she puts her arms out and he goes down. He kisses the baby through her dress.

"My baby will have all of her birthdays, starting with one, because one is first."

Mal comes down, and holds his hands. Her face is all wet and she smiles so much that his chest is warm. "Thank you for your speech. I think it was the best one."

"Happy Birthday," he says, because that is what he is supposed to say. "I love you and my baby and I'm glad you had a birthday, not just because there was cake."

"Thank you, Roland." She swings his hands a little and wrinkles her nose. "You want to know a secret?"

He loves secrets.

"If I was little like you, I'd want to be your friend too."

"Yeah?" This is a good secret.

"So very much." Mal pauses, then smiles even more. "I love you," she says, touching his cheek. "And I'm so happy you're here to be the little flame's big brother. She's so lucky to have you."

"Being a big brother is very important," he repeats. He holds up his hand, waiting for her to put it where his baby is.

"She's here," Mal says, moving his hand to the side. "She's very excited tonight."

Something taps him and he pulls his hand away.

"What is it?"

"She tap me."

"You felt that?"

"In my hand!" he says, suddenly he knows. "That was my baby in my hand!"

Mal takes his hand back and finds his baby again. "You feel that? Baby turning around?"

"She's punching me," he teases and that makes Mal laugh.

"She has very tiny hands."

"Soon not tiny."

"Very soon."

"Not very soon," he corrects. Very soon is tomorrow, not months and months like his baby. "Later."

Mal blinks again, very slow. "Yes, later."

"I love you," he whispers to the baby, because if she can tap him, she can hear him too. "Say happy birthday to your mama, because next birthday you can be here, and I'll hold you."

"She'll like that."

"She will?"

"Your baby will love you very much," Mal says. "I just know."


End file.
